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cognitive science

"Everybody thinks: 'Memory declines with age,'" says cognitive neuroscientist Nancy Dennis. "And it does, to some degree. But it isn't that simple. Some types of memory fade as we age, but others are very stable." Dennis, an assistant professor of psychology at Penn State, studies the aging brain. Using functional MRI, which offers a look at brain activity in real-time, she identifies changes that occur as people get older, then tries to match this neural evidence with cognitive behavior.

A computer model that can predict how people will complete a controlled task and how the knowledge needed to complete that task develops over time is the product of a group of researchers, led by a professor from Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology.